Recently I saw a post on social media page which has me
concerned. In this post it states to never forgive someone for a past action. I
began to ask myself about what sin that God would not forgive, and here we
several passages in which the only sin that cannot be forgiven is denying the
Holy Spirit.
·
Mark 3:28-30:
"Truly I tell you, all sins and blasphemes will be forgiven for the sons
of men. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will
never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin. He said this because they
[the Pharisees]
were saying, ‘He has an evil spirit’."
·
Matthew 12:30-32:
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me
scatters. And so I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy.
But the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a
word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks
against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
·
Luke 12:8-10:
"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also
acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be
disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the
Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will not be forgiven."
·
Hebrews 6:4-8:
"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have
tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted
the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have
fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the
Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that
drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those
for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces
thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end
it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are
convinced of better things in your case — the things that have to do with
salvation."
·
Hebrews 10:26-29:
"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge
of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of
judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who
rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished
who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing
the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit
of grace?"
My friends, what this means is basically the denial by a
Christian that God is not capable of forgiving everybody, even if they should
seek out God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us the
present reminders that we have sin and gone against what God wishes for us and
for which Jesus was crucified for.
When we deny the Holy Spirit, we deny what God is capable of
and we basically label God as not being able to keep His promises, Basically we have made God an imperfect God. So when we say that we can never
forgive somebody, or say that God can’t forgive them, we are the ones that are
truly committing the sin of unbelief in the power and capabilities of God
through the Holy Spirit.
My prayer for us all this day is that as followers of Christ
we place our whole trust in Him and His power to redeem anybody. As followers
of Christ it is our duty and ministry to understand that and communicate to all
that God can forgive them and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died to keep
that promise.
This is the Day that the Lord has made.
Pastor Tim
